Poppy Seeds

Ian M · 20 January 2016, 22:25

I have a little story to tell, with a warning that may be useful to someone someday.
Let me start with a character portrayal. A character portrayal of a guy. This guy is a serious athlete. He trains hard and plays hard at his chosen sport, something called Roller Hockey. If you have ever watched Ice Hockey it is very similar but is played wearing inline wheeled skates on a hard surface. Having said that this guy is also getting quite serious about ice hockey. Playing roller hockey he has represented GB as a junior and is now trying to make inroads into the senior (mens) GB team. They are very fast and he has not been selected, yet! So this guy cares about his body and his performance when playing. Oh, and did I mention, he is my son.
So two days ago he went for a job interview. No problem, you have got the job, we just want you to take this drugs and alcohol test. Two hours later; sorry your have failed the drug test, opiates in your urine !!! We were stunned. Has our shining super hero (

) gone to the dark side? Of course not, but what has happened?
He is using cream for a minor fungal infection, The ingredients were examined and nothing looked suspicious. After much head scratching he looked at breakfast. Bingo. Hovis seeded bread. It is covered in poppy seeds, and what do poppy seeds do? Cause a false positive in drugs tests, thats what they do. Google it, it is well known to certain elements of the population, but not us squeaky clean types. This stuff is on open sale with no indication that it can seriously bugger up your day if you are going for a drugs test

So you have been warned, drugs tests are becoming more prevalent so I am told. Watch out for those poppy seeds

My son? Oh the prospective employer has readily agreed to a re-test. He has to wait 48 hours for the nasties to clear out from his system, and then hopefully he can join the ranks of the gainfully employed.

Pikey Dave · 21 January 2016, 07:52

This is getting more common. Many construction sites are introducing drugs testing at induction. The problem is that the testing kits are "idiot proof" in that they just give a pass or fail. You pee into a special cup & an indicator on the side says yea or nay. Failed tests are then referred to a lab for further analysis, which can take a week. We had a lad fail, & when the lab results came through it was due to Co-codamol that he'd taken for toothache.

jyasaki · 21 January 2016, 16:08

Hope this guy doesn't have to get screened for amateur athletics - they test for *everything*. Have to watch not just what you eat and drink, even OTC meds; pretty much anything you put into or onto your body. A lot of innocent stuff will cause a hit on the tests.

I used to be subject to random drug testing when I worked for a DoD subcontractor, but since dope smokers were clearing the tests, I wasn't too worried about it. In truth, I think I got tested twice in the 11 years I worked there.

jky